Culloden Point

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Culloden Point is a small peninsula just north of Montauk, New York, where Fort Pond Bay opens into Gardiners Bay.

In January 1781, during the American Revolution, the British ship HMS Culloden ran aground there while trying to escape a winter gale with two other warships. The leading ship, HMS Bedford, turned back late at night after realizing they hadn’t cleared Montauk Point. Culloden continued toward the breakers and, despite attempts to turn around, could not reach safe water. The next day refloating the ship failed, so Captain George Balfour had Culloden burned to the waterline to keep it from Patriot hands, after taking aboard bronze cannons and other supplies; older iron cannons were left behind.

The wreck was found in the 1970s when pieces washed ashore. Some debris was used for beach fires. A cannon from Culloden is on display at the East Hampton Marine Museum in Amagansett, and other cannons remain on the sea floor about 20 to 25 feet deep. The wreck site is protected on the National Register of Historic Places.

Culloden Point Park is reached by a single-lane gravel road at the west end of Soundview Drive. Divers use a rock with pebbles north of the bluff stairs and head about 333 degrees to reach the wreck, which lies roughly 150 feet offshore and is marked by buoys. Usually only rust stains are visible, though some hull pieces appear after storms.

Historically, the spit was once called Will’s Point. In 1839, the Amistad survivors anchored at Culloden Point after trying to convince their captors they were returning to Africa, then went to Montauk for provisions before the ship was seized by USS Washington.

In the early 1960s, about 200 Leisurama prefabricated homes designed by Andrew Geller were built at Culloden Point after being sold from Macy’s display in New York City.